Liberty Moore, 22, of Buderim is vying for a management excellence award from the Australian Institute of Management (AIM) for her role as project leader of the Kuya Collaborative – a joint initiative of USC’s Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team and the Kuya Centre for Street Children.

Liberty led a team of volunteers to Manila in January with the purpose of teaching underprivileged people skills that will eventually help them to earn an income.

The team included two other University students, USC Research Fellow Selina Tomasich and two Sunshine Coast seamstresses.

Ms Tomasich nominated Liberty for the AIM award after seeing her in action in the Philippines. The regional judging will be held in August, with the winner going through to State judging in November.

Liberty said one of the main tasks the group undertook in Manila was teaching street children to sew clothing.

“I have always wanted to be involved in this sort of thing,” she said. “It’s hard to put into words how much the project both impacted on my life and the lives of the people at the Kuya Centre.

“I came home a different person with a new understanding of just how unbelievably fortunate we are to live in Australia.”

Liberty said the Kuya Collaborative was the first international humanitarian project undertaken by USC SIFE.

“Our biggest challenge was budget – we just didn’t have enough money,” she said. “Finding the manpower was also difficult because, as students, we were trying to juggle the charity work around our full-time study commitments.”

Despite the challenges, Liberty remains committed to her goal of becoming a communications manager for a not-for-profit organisation.

She is currently honing her public relations and communication skills in her new role as client co-ordinator for BWH Communications in Brisbane.

Liberty was born in Buderim and graduated from Matthew Flinders Anglican College in 2007. She graduated from USC with a Bachelor of Communications degree last month.

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